Module 4- The last act

Before you proceed further, let me tell you that this post would be the last travelogue one on this blog for some time to come.

I have previously written about the Modules 1, 2 and 3 in Copenhagen and so it would be a shame if I don’t write about the last and final module. And given the fact that the final module is unique and special in more ways than one, I would be committing a crime by not putting the experiences into words. Module 4 is special because it brings together all the 250 odd trainees under one roof for the first time, because it has the final exams of the MISE program, because it has the self leadership week – a week spent in the Danish forests, because it has the graduation ceremony at the company headquarters and because it may be the last time I would be meeting many of the fellow trainees from across the world.

Unlike the previous modules this time all we 19 Indian trainees were allowed to leave a day early to Copenhagen, so that it gives us ample time to shake off the jet lag and get ourselves ready for the exams. And since the company was a bit generous with the allowance this time, all of us checked into the SAS Radisson located at the heart of the city. The day was spent doing some studies, lots of time pass, and a dinner at the Indian palace hotel. The next day we left for our module centre. This time it was not to that delightful place Karslunde, but towards the North, to the suburb of Snekkersten. Comwell Borupgaard was the name of the hotel where we stayed and it was one heck of a place. With enough rooms to take in 250 trainees and more, it had class rooms the size of movie theatres, conference and discussion rooms, a lobby that stretched for ever, a sauna and a swimming pool and a dedicated staff to run it. And more importantly the food was better than what we used to get in Karslunde.

Snekkersten was located by the sea and a short walk from the hotel would take you to the beach and the small harbor where the yachts and fishing boats lay docked. The road along the beach was dotted with small but beautiful cottages and houses. And the scenery all around was of the highest order. When I retire, this would be the kind of place I want to settle in.

For the first 4 days we were occupied by the exams. Logistics, Liner trade and Maritime law were the subjects we were being tested in. Even though they were mainly open book exams, they were not what you would call piece of cakes. One had to wade through hundreds of pages of notes and handouts to pick out the right answer and write. Looking back I would remember these days not for the exams but for the sheer number of printouts and photocopies that the folks took over those 4 days. The photocopier was used incessantly through out the night as people stocked more and more pages of notes for the open book exams. I guess the number of papers used would have wiped out a forest the size of a small Danish city. And the season being summer, the days were extremely long. If one planned to start studying after the sun went down, and then he checks his watch after the sun finally did go down, he would be shocked to see that the time was about half past eleven.

The next big thing was the leadership week. The only thing we knew was that we had to spend 5 days in the Danish wilderness and that it would be physically and mentally very demanding. Apart from this we knew nothing, and sadly, apart from this, you would also know nothing. The experiences of the leadership week are not to be shared. I can only say that those were 5 amazing days, we did things that we never imagined we were capable of , we stretched our bodies to limits that we never dreamt of, we marched, we jogged, we swam, we rowed, we canoed, we cycled, we worked as a team, we competed, we lost, we won. We survived .And learnt quite a few lessons. After the survival week, I feel like the shoe ad – impossible is nothing!

The survival week ended in a remote Danish countryside with fireworks lighting up the Scandinavian sky in our honor and with the loudspeakers playing ‘we are the champions’. After which the tired, dirty and ragged but proud batch left for their respective hotels to get some sleep and get ready for the graduation ceremony the next day.

Next day all of us assembled at the company headquarters in Esplanaden, Copenhagen. There was a reception hosted in our honor, a meeting with the group CEO and a photo session with the company partners. The sight of 253 trainees from about 70 countries assembled on 5 tiers was itself a show stopper. We could see cars pulling over on the road and people stepping out to check out on what was happening. And the official photographer was not the only one clicking away. I could see tourists stopping by on the way and taking pictures of our group. The last program of the day was the closing dinner. The venue was the Danish stock exchange. We were ferried across to the stock exchange on the boats plying on the canals. The closing dinner was a gala affair. With speeches, performances and innumerable photographs being clicked for posterity, the dinner was memorable. The dinner was the last official act in the MISE module calendar.

All of us then hit the pub called Luux, and partied the night away. As we stepped out at about 4 am, it was already dawn and the night had faded away. We had 2 more days before we flew back to India. Day one was spent in Copenhagen itself, walking around the city and drinking in its sights and sounds. Day two, we took a train to Malmo, the Swedish city located just half an hour away from Copenhagen. Malmo is a small, peaceful city and if not for the blue and yellow Swedish flags flying on the buildings, one wouldn’t find any difference between Malmo and any other place in Denmark. Next day we flew back to India

2 years, 4 modules, 6 exams, hundreds of friends, infinite experiences. One looks back at the two years and doesn’t find enough words to describe the experience of the modules. And I leave it at that.